View original document (0.3 MB) PDF viewer unavailable in this browser. Download the PDF to view. PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — A newly declassified 1985 U.S. diplomatic cable reveals that the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea fielded an urgent inquiry from the host nation’s intelligence service regarding reports of “high-altitude, high-speed aircraft” that frightened local residents and prompted a public meeting with the nation’s prime minister.
According to Department of State records released under the PURSUE archive on May 8, 2026, the document—titled “State Department UAP Cable 1, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985”—is a diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby to the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USCINCPAC) in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dated January 28, 1985, the cable reports that the embassy received an informal inquiry from the Papua New Guinea National Intelligence Organization (NIO) concerning sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena on the evening of January 24, 1985.
The cable states that the matter came to the NIO’s attention when an officer in Wewak reported that local residents had been “frightened by overflights, which led to the provincial premier’s calling of a public meeting on the subject attended by the prime minister who was weekend in his electoral district.” The document notes that the NIO relayed “various reports of unidentified aerial phenomena the night of January 24, including fast-moving objects with lights, contrails, and noise.” The cable identifies one report in which the NIO placed “some credence,” originating with an Air Niugini pilot who had just taken off from Wewak en route to Port Moresby.
According to the document, the pilot said his radar “picked up aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and high speed when he was over Angoram (vic 4 deg S, 144 deg E).” The cable also notes that “several visual sightings of contrails were also reported from various points around PNG, of one aircraft moving north to south at 1900 local and of six-eight aircraft traveling south to north at 2200 local.” The Department of State document characterizes the information provided by the NIO as “very sketchy,” with sources unsure of the directions in which the aircraft were flying.
The cable sought clarification from U.S. INDOPACOM on the presence or absence of U.S. military aircraft within Papua New Guinean airspace on the night in question. According to the document, embassy personnel told the NIO that, based on their records and a telephone conversation with the 43rd Security Wing (43SW), they knew of “no B-52 overflights and no U.S. aircraft in PNG airspace on January 24.” The cable requests confirmation of this statement and any additional information that might “throw on these reports.”
Context and Background
The document was released by the U.S. Department of War under the PURSUE archive, a government initiative that has declassified a series of records related to unidentified aerial phenomena.
The cable is marked “LIMITED OFFICIAL USE” and carries the subject line “PAPUA NEW GUINEA INQUIRY RE OVERFLIGHTS.” It was sent from the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby, signed by an official identified as “GARDNER,” to USCINCPAC, with information copies to the 43rd Security Wing at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, the State Department in Washington, D.C., and U.S. embassies in Canberra and Jakarta. The incident occurred in Papua New Guinea, a nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
Wikipedia’s entry on Australian dow-releases-1948-flying-disc-sighting-report-a-grouplogy notes that the term refers to “a historical series of Australian events and or activities pertaining to government departments, civilian groups or individual Australians, which centre on or around the study of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) reports, sightings, encounters and other related phenomena, known as dow-releases-1948-flying-disc-sighting-report-a-grouplogy within the Australian context before 1984.” While the Wikipedia context provides a regional framework for the study of such phenomena, the document itself does not reference Australian dow-releases-1948-flying-disc-sighting-report-a-grouplogy or any broader pattern of sightings.
What Remains Unanswered
The Department of State cable leaves several questions unresolved. The document does not identify what the objects were, nor does it provide any conclusion from U.S. military or intelligence authorities regarding the sightings. The cable’s request for confirmation from USCINCPAC suggests that, as of January 28, 1985, the U.S. Embassy had not received a definitive answer about whether any U.S. aircraft were operating in Papua New Guinean airspace on the night of January 24.
The record’s official summary offers limited detail beyond the basic sequence of events, and the cable itself describes the information as “very sketchy.” Readers should watch for future PURSUE archive releases, which may include follow-up cables or responses from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command that could clarify whether any military aircraft were present or whether the sightings remain unexplained.
